Mobile porch pirate steals dress ahead of wedding

MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — Katie Faggard is three days away from one of the most exciting days of her life: her wedding day. She's set to tie the knot Saturday, but porch pirates threw a real wrench in her plans Tuesday afternoon.

Surveillance video shows a red Chevy pulling into her midtown driveway. A man in a mask gets out of the passenger seat and grabs the boxes on her porch. He makes two trips.

In those boxes are wedding gifts and the dress for her rehearsal dinner.

"It's just frustrating and sad," said Faggard.

Faggard says it's added another level of stress getting ready for her big day having to pick out another dress last minute.

"From now on I'm going to have my packages shipped to work," said Faggard.

If you look closely at the video, you’ll see the driver of the car also gets out. He nabs a box next door at Scott Tindle's house. The thieves also got away with hundreds of custom Christmas ornaments.

“Thousands of dollars’ worth of product that we lost,” said Tindle. “It was basically the shipment for December for all the people that had ordered these custom ornaments had been stolen off the porch.”

Tindle sells the ornaments at his gift shop at Fort Conde and boutique shops in town. His wife designed it.

“She custom drew this ornament,” said Tindle.

And it's just the latest in a string of blows to business. Last month a Grinch broke into his restaurant Sylvia's at the Fort. Tindle also announced last month they're having to stop Duck Boat Tours because insurance is now too high.

“We don't lay down and quit when bad things happen whether it's the ducks having to close, or whether it's somebody robbing Sylvia's, or somebody stealing things off our porch,” said Tindle. “If you're going to be an entrepreneur, you've got to be tough. You've got to have grit, but you've got to have relentless optimism that things are going to be better.”

If you recognize the porch pirates or have information about the theft, call Mobile Police 251-208-7211. The incident occurred Tuesday afternoon on Silverwood Street off Old Shell Road.